Morecambe 1 Carlisle United 1: Chris Beech, afterwards, took all the positives that he could. Carlisle’s structure and “spine” had been broadly intact. Their spirit encouraged him, there had been little for Adam Collin to do in goal, and, yes, of course United should have had a penalty.

He also reviewed their obvious flaws, such as sub-par passing and a failure to conjure enough “moments” by which a team can make their own luck.

Those were the details of a 1-1 draw against Morecambe. It was, shall we say in kindness, a spectacle ripe for a coach’s scrutiny. When the footage is replayed, clipped and analysed, there will be rich pickings indeed; grey areas to clarify, strengths to isolate, problems to address.

The bigger picture, though, is going to be harder for Beech to affect – and nobody should expect him to do so quickly. This team, this squad, is what he has until January. Twenty games in, it sits third bottom in the fourth tier for good reason.

On Saturday, it went up against one of the two sides worse off, and came out equal. It was a fair result from a spectacle which, for all the effort expended, was often dire.

At best, this is going to be a campaign of attempting small, faint improvements, before the overall scenery looks brighter. That is the theory, anyway. Beech appears engaged by the challenge, and is clearly not short of tactical ideas (Jarrad Branthwaite in holding midfield was a new one here, a scheme that never felt entirely convincing).

Considering previous plans have led the Blues to this position, nobody can argue against testing some fresh ones. It must feel, though, a little like rearranging the same pieces knowing that, whatever you attempt, everything has its limits. This United side has seldom looked capable of consistent quality and the fact one of their senior coaches, Nathan Rooney, was away on a scouting mission suggests Beech knows that already.

In the meantime, these last days of 2019 offer the chance to drive home any sort of advantage in a relegation battle. United could not do so at Morecambe, so had to fall back on the lesser (but still important) feat of keeping their five-point distance from their opponents.

Maintain and increase that gap over winter and the newly-appointed Beech can proceed in greater comfort. A couple of shabbier weekends and pressure will grow. It was probably significant that all those in the bottom four drew on Saturday. Tension grows at this time of year, and quality seldom increases.

It cannot be a particularly colourful prospect for supporters and when observing more than 1,200 of them in the away sections here one dearly wished they could be rewarded with something better. Their faith is getting an examination by this flawed season, yet those numbers still showed the scale of Carlisle United, if only they could rise again.

United have often won league games at Morecambe but from an early stage this looked a contest of few goals and little poise. It was fast, urgent and hasty. Neither side retained the ball well and moments of true attacking invention were teased out slowly. With a touch of irony, Carlisle’s fans shouted “ole” when their team built a sequence of passes in the seventh minute; it died out quickly.

By then Morecambe’s Steven Old had seen a header blocked and Branthwaite, preferred to Canice Carroll despite the latter’s positive efforts at Forest Green the previous weekend, had a shot saved. Carlisle were keener to send the ball up the pitch than under Steven Pressley but struggled to build things around Ryan Loft’s aerial efforts.

There was regular dialogue between both bosses and the fourth official, but inconsistent messages between players. The most likely respective creators were Nathan Thomas and Lewis Alessandra, the latter a tricky runner who fed Aaron Wildig on the half-hour, Collin saving well.

Thomas, when switched to the right, came to life later in the first half and twice sped past opponents, but found side-netting and stand roof. Old later missed a header from difficult distance and, in midfield, Branthwaite won his share of challenges but also looked rather raw in the pass, others around him also lacking presence.

Uncertainty in attacking areas is a hallmark of struggling sides, inability to hold a lead another, and when Carlisle finally did create something emphatic after 47 minutes – Thomas’ dream of a pass which put Hallam Hope in to score – the blue smoke that rose from the away terrace was still thick in the air when Morecambe equalised.

It was a shabby goal, fortunate in one sense but also poor in another, as Byron Webster failed to prevent Alessandra from turning towards their goal. Wildig sliced his shot but it fell for the unmarked John O’Sullivan to head home against his former club.

Then, back to the familiar frustrations. Carlisle, with Beech making attacking changes, did not use the ball crisply enough and their best route, involving Thomas and the overlapping Gethin Jones down the right, failed to open up clear chances.

Morecambe had a shade more pressure, and passed a little better, but were also tame where it mattered against a largely solid defence. Alessandra deceived half the stadium with one change of direction but finished waywardly. O’Sullivan was denied by a Jon Mellish block when a scramble fell his way. Wildig headed a good chance wide and it was not until added time that Carlisle had another proper glimpse of winning it themselves.

With good reason, they were aggrieved that ref Darren Handley kept whistle from mouth when Jones crossed and was caught a split-second later by Luke Conlan. It sometimes feels like a season can spin on such moments; United’s fans, instead, left the Globe Arena feeling that little had changed. Nor will it, in all likelihood, until January at the soonest.

Morecambe: Halstead, Conlan, Old, Tanner, Brewitt, Kenyon, Wildig (Miller 90), Sutton, O'Sullivan (Cranston 84), Alessandra, Stockton (Leitch-Smith 67). Not used: Da Silva Mendes, Tutte, Ellison, Brownsword.

Goal: O’Sullivan 48

Booked: Alessandra, Conlan

United: Collin, G Jones, Mellish, Webster, Hayden, Branthwaite, M Jones, Scougall (Olomola 64), Thomas, Hope, Loft (Sorensen 85). Not used: Gray, Elliott, Carroll, Knight-Percival, Sagaf.

Goal: Hope 47

Booked: Hope, Branthwaite

Ref: Darren Handley

Crowd: 3,126 (1,251 Carlisle fans)